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Budleigh & Brewster United - celebrating sisterhood!

This site is a sort of museum in cyberspace full of odds and ends about life in Budleigh Salterton.
It celebrates among other things the connection between our corner of East Devon - birthplace of both Sir Walter Raleigh and Roger Conant, founder of Salem, Massachusetts - and the United States of America.
The site was inspired by the friendship link established in 2001 with the Cape Cod community of Brewster.

Posts

Photo by Lynne Lovatt‎, Christmas Eve 2011 from the Rolle flats in Budleigh and posted in Facebook's Budleigh - Past and Present Well, the sun has risen on a new
year and it’s time for a change! I’ve been in the habit of
emailing lists of news items and features of local interest on a regular basis.
The Raleigh 400 blog has done its work to mark the 400th anniversary
of the Great Devonian’s death and has closed - though I'm likely to tinker with it from time to time!

You can view it at leisure by clicking on http://raleigh400.blogspot.comBudleigh
Salterton, William Payne, 1790 Devon
Archives. Posted on Budleigh - Past and Present by Yannick 'MrMunro' Munro‎ Budleigh and Brewster United
has come back to life, and I'll be contributing to that, together with the new Facebook group Budleigh – Past and Present. Details about that and how to join are at the end of this post.

Budleigh – Past and Present has attracted
lots of interest, with some remarkable pictures of lif…

Colin Yeats, left, and Leo Dolling with children from Budleigh’s St Peter’s School Two former British Railways employees were kind enough to welcome nearly 30 children from St Peter’s CofE School during a visit to Fairlynch on 9 November 2017.

The KS 1 children, accompanied by teacher Elizabeth Stubbs and adult helpers, had been studying changes in transport as a class subject. The Museum's railway display in the Local History Room, with its many artefacts, saved when the branch line and station closed in 1967, proved to be an effective teaching aid for the children.

Naturally there was fun involved when they were allowed to wear the station master’s cap, and there was a rare chance for some to hold the ceremonial spade used by Lady Gertrude Rolle on 6 November 1895 to cut the first sod for the building of Budleigh Salterton Station.

For Yettington’s Colin Yeats who had worked on the Budleigh branch line railway it was the second time that he had helped out in this way. Another ex-r…

Having written a history of
Fairlynch in 2017 I naturally volunteered a year later to review a similar
publication which tells the story of the Baptist Church in our town. The subjects are alike in many
ways: both museum and church are attractive 19th century local
landmarks. Being listed buildings they both present expensive headaches of
maintenance; as institutions serving the local community both have had their
ups and downs over the years. Baptist minister Revd. Graham Wise’s account of
the church and its people is an enjoyably readable paperback which is a
valuable addition to Budleigh's local history studies. A history of the church was first
published in 1983. This latest version provides an update for the 175th
anniversary which it celebrated in 2018. The original Temple Methodist Church, with Ash Villa (left) which was demolished to make room for the car parking area There have been Baptist
Christians in Budleigh since the early 19th century, when they
worshipped with Meth…

This year is the 50th anniversary
of Imperial Productions performing shows in Budleigh Salterton. Its name has gone through various
changes over the years, but the gifted performers who’ve been entertaining
Budleigh audiences for over half a century can all trace their roots back to
London’s Imperial College.

One can get a bit lost amidst all the name
changes: IC Dramatic Society, IC Operatic Society – or ICOS as it became in
1956; and then ICU Musical Theatre Society in 2003… but there was also Imperial
Opera until 2007, when it finally became Imperial Productions.

The company’s relationship with the town goes back a long way, states the website.

Since 1968,
the Public Hall, pictured above, has been the permanent location for the annual summer tour.
Indeed, this is now the only venue at which the company performs outside of
London.

But why Budleigh?
No precise answer has emerged. ‘Our love of the place probably stemmed
from ICOS,’ reads another online explanation.

This is a post which originally appeared on my Great War at Fairlynch blog, which you can find via Google. I found that Facebook did not like linking to the site because apparently the automatons believed that it contravened 'community guidelines'. ???!!! Maybe there's some politically incorrect content that I've been oblivious to. Anyway I'm reposting here in the hope that Budleigh & Brewster will be acceptable.

War
memorials come in all shapes and sizes. Not many people would associate this drain cover
with the Great War. But whenever I see it as I walk down my garden path I think
of Alfred and the son that he lost just a few years before he built our 1920s
house on Exmouth Road in Budleigh Salterton. Alfred Demant had moved from Highgate in London to
live in the Budleigh area at some time after 1911. He and his wife Amelia Maude
Louise had taken up residence in Ivy Cottage – now Yew Tree Cottage – next to
the Baptist Chapel in Little Knowle. Their sons Sidney …

Born in 1946, in Birmingham UK, of Scottish-Irish parentage, and brought up as a Roman Catholic. Early education may have driven me into teaching, in the belief that schools should offer a more enjoyable experience for children. Studied French at London University, specialising in 16th century literature. Then came 34 years of teaching French, along with red herrings and common sense, at Oundle School,5). Dabbles, and some people say meddles, in many areas. A passionate gardener, moved to Devon partly to grow ericaceous plants more easily. Other interests include family, cycling, walking, ph Northamptonshire. Published articles in Etudes Rabelaisiennes, (a long time ago), and some books - 'Oundle's War' (1995) - 'The Scientist in The Cottage' (2013) - a biography of Henry Carter FRS (1813-95), 'Our Little Clown' - a biography of Reg Varney - photography, reading, music, studying butterflies, chopping wood, DIY, playing on the scaffold tower, and networking for the Greater Good. Married to Anthea for over 40 years. Three children: Emily, Simeon and Rosanna, four grandchildren and two Bengal cats. I'm a cancer survivor – I hope!